Medical Device Vigilance In Sri Lanka: Identifying Gaps And Developing National Guidelines, Mjf Riyasha, Lm Hettihewa, S Shanmuganathan

Journal of Innovation in Science, Engineering and Technology

Background: Medical Device Vigilance (MDV) systems are essential for ensuring patient safety through post-market surveillance. In low- and middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka, MDV systems remain underdeveloped despite increasing reliance on advanced medical technologies.
Objectives: This study aimed to identify gaps in MDV practices in Sri Lanka and develop context-specific national guidelines aligned with international best practices.
Methods A pragmatic mixed-methods design was used. A desk review of international frameworks (WHO, IMDRF, EU MDR 2017/745, FDA) was conducted alongside a cross-sectional survey of key stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, biomedical engineers, device importers, and regulatory staff. Quantitative data were analyzed …

The Role Of Vocational Rehabilitation Programs In Improving The Quality Of Life For Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities, Hamood Bin Khamis Al-Nofli, Emad Farouk Saleh, Naseer Bin Mohammed Hamad Al-Oufi, Saber Mahmoud Elsharkawy

Journal of Arts and Social Sciences

The study aimed to investigate the impact of implementing a proposed vocational rehabilitation training program on improving the quality of life of individuals with intellectual disabilities. The study targeted 21 female students enrolled in the intellectual integration program in Al-Dakhiliyah Governorate, Sultanate of Oman, drawn from seven schools implementing the intellectual integration program. The present study is a quasi-experimental study that adopted the experimental method by implementing a vocational rehabilitation training program with an experimental group of female students with intellectual disabilities. The researchers developed a quality-of-life scale consisting of 55 items distributed across four dimensions: health-related quality of life, …

Life Pressure Facing Palestinian Martyrs’ Wives Under Coronavirus-Covid-19 Pandemic, Mohammed Khamis Mohammed Al-Albobbo, Mohammed Ismail Matar

Journal of Arts and Social Sciences

The study aims to identify the life pressures faced by the wives of Palestinian martyrs during the Covid-19 pandemic. The researchers used the descriptive-analytical approach, as it was deemed appropriate for the study’s objectives, and designed a questionnaire for data collection. The questionnaire consisted of 35 items and was administered to a sample of wives of Palestinian martyrs from the 2021 war in the Gaza Strip. The study identified key findings related to psychological, social, and economic stressors faced by the wives of Palestinian martyrs during the coronavirus pandemic. Regarding psychological stressors, the statement (I feel disadvantaged by the loss …

A Novel Approach For Evaluating And Comparing Multiple Antipsychotic Polypharmacy In Adults Across Specialist Intellectual Disability Services In England And Wales: A Retrospective Feasibility Cohort Study, Samuel J. Tromans, Helen Neilens, Crispin Musicha, Victoria Allgar, Emily Stanyard, Richard Laugharne, Paula Mcgowan, Angela Hassiotis, Sarah Lennard, Lance V. Watkins, Bhathika Perera, Kiran Purandare, Ashok Roy, Indermeet Sawhney, Sujeet Jaydeokar, Ryan Ashford, Chris Rollinson, Hanna Abraham, Nusra Khodabux, Ogheneochuko Akusu, Samuel Paisley, Georgios Mousailidis, Meera Naran, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Background:In England and Wales, significant numbers of people with intellectual disability (PwID) are prescribed antipsychotics for a range of licensed and non-licensed indications, particularly behaviours that challenge. There is no system to compare antipsychotic prescribing practices across specialist adult intellectual disability (ID) services.Aim:This study aimed to determine whether converting antipsychotics and their doses to equivalent chlorpromazine units enables comparison of licensed (psychosis, etc.) and non-licensed (behaviours that challenge) prescribing between different services.Method:A feasibility retrospective cohort study using convenience sampling captured anonymized data of PwID on ⩾2 antipsychotics across eight specialist England and Wales adult ID services. The doses prescribed across …

The Influence Of Budgeting And Financial Reporting On Financial Accountability In Religious Organisations: Evidence From Selected Churches In Tanzania, Plasidi Marcel Bayno, Helena Thomas Haule

Business Management Review

Budgeting processes and financial reporting are widely recognised mechanisms for enhancing financial accountability, yet empirical evidence on how these mechanisms influence financial accountability within faith-based non-profit organisations remains limited. Guided by Stewardship Theory and Stakeholder Theory, this study examines the influence of budgeting processes and financial reporting on financial accountability in religious organisations. Using a deductive approach, empirical data were collected from 173 Catholic and Lutheran parishes in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, yielding a total of 471 valid responses aggregated at the parish level for analysis using Partial Least Square Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings reveal that both budgeting processes …

Principals’ Experiences With Implementation Practices For School Board Policies In An Urban School District, Andrea J. Richardson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Effective policy implementation is crucial for improving educational outcomes and ensuring equitable learning environments. While existing literature has shown that policy implementation is influenced by factors such as leadership capacity, stakeholder engagement, communication, resource availability, organization context, and accountability, there is little known about how K-12 urban principals narrate, interpret, and make meaning of their experiences to implementing board-mandated policies. This study addressed this gap by exploring how principals in an urban school district in Ohio navigated the complexities of implementing school board policies amid resource limitations, stakeholder resistance, and accountability pressures. The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry study …

Beyond A Little Italy: Italian Community Formation In Washington, D.C., Kathleen P C Millander

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis examines the development of the Italian immigrant community in Washington, DC, from the early nineteenth century through the beginning of the Second World War. Unlike the dense ethnic enclaves that characterized Italian settlement in many American industrial and port cities, Washington never developed a recognizable Little Italy. Nevertheless, Italians in the nation's capital constructed a cohesive community through social, religious, familial, and economic networks that connected a geographically dispersed population.

Drawing on extensive original archival research, including oral histories, personal memoirs, parish records, newspapers, and manuscript collections, this thesis reconstructs the experiences of Washington's Italian immigrants and their …

Beyond Monolithic Narratives: The Interaction Of Ethnic-Racial Socialization And Resistance In Shaping Mental Health Among Black Immigrants In The U.S., Krystel Francis

Graduate Masters Theses

Black immigrants represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. Black population, yet their unique racialized and cultural experiences remain understudied within psychological research. This thesis examined how ethnic-racial socialization and resistance and empowerment against racism can influence how race-related stress was associated with psychological distress among Black immigrants in the United States. This study tested a moderated moderation model to determine whether ethnic-racial socialization and resistance and empowerment against racism, independently and jointly, buffered the adverse effects of race-related stress on psychological distress. Using data from a larger IRB-approved study on racism and mental health among people of …

Urinary Collagen As An Indicator Of Prostate Fibrosis In Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction, Claweens Quetant

Graduate Masters Theses

Lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTD) is a progressive disorder that affects millions of men over the age of 50 years old. LUTD manifests as urgency, nocturia, urinary frequency, weak urinary stream, and incomplete bladder emptying (Egan, 2016). The current treatment for LUTD doesn’t always yield the desired results due to several issues. In this thesis, we aim to address the lack of suitable tools for detecting prostatic collagenization and to assess whether urine could serve as a substrate for detecting pro-fibrotic proteins associated with moderate-to-high AUASI scores. We used whole urine from 2 different cohorts, the Boston and the LURN …

Effects Of A Shame-Focused Self-Compassion Writing Intervention In Individuals With Social Anxiety, Selen Amado

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The present study examined the efficacy of a brief, shame-focused self-compassion (SF-SC) writing intervention in reducing shame, social anxiety and related cognitive maintenance processes among individuals with elevated social anxiety. Shame is a core feature and maintaining factor of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), closely linked to self-focused attention, post-event processing, and self-criticism. Additionally, self-compassion demonstrates a robust inverse association with shame. However, few interventions have explicitly targeted shame as a primary mechanism of change using self-compassion strategies in socially anxious populations. Using a randomized controlled design, 94 participants with elevated levels of social anxiety and shame were assigned to either …

Effect Of Vocational Training Programs On The Mental Health Of Indian Women Living In Contexts Of Urban Poverty (Or Urban Slums), Sriramya Potluri

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Women living in contexts of urban poverty (IWLCUP) experience disproportionately high rates of psychological distress, yet their mental health needs remain largely underrecognized. Beyond individualized explanations, broader ecological perspectives situate these women’s distress within previously underemphasized macrolevel forces and acknowledge the role of inequity and related structural disparities (e.g., economic, sociocultural, political etc.) in their oppression and disempowerment, thereby contributing to increased psychological vulnerability. Such frameworks call for intervention efforts that reduce individual psychological risk by addressing structural determinants proximally and distally impacting the lives of IWLCUP. Specifically, targeting poverty and economic insecurity might drive positive downstream effects that ultimately …

Cultural Responsiveness: Examining Assessments Of Therapists For Ethical And Clinical Outcomes (Create Clout), Tsotso T. Ablorh

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCC) and Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) are well-researched and supported counseling practices for decreasing microaggressions in therapy and consequent attrition, lack of satisfaction, and maltreatment (Ratts et al., 2016; Sue et al., 1982). However, scholars critique existing methods for measuring therapists’ cultural responsiveness for being disconnected from therapeutic process and outcomes (Hays, 2020; Wilcox et al., 2020). This study examined which MSJCC measures associated with variables clinically and ethically relevant to better treatment outcomes and lower microaggressive, neglectful, and stereotypical treatment for hypothetical Black, female clients by White therapists. 62 White psychologists in …

The Role Of Critical Professional Development In Transforming The Teaching And Learning Practices Of White Faculty: Elevating Racial Consciousness To Center Equity, Kaitlyn E. Siner-Cappas

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of white faculty participants in a critical professional development (CPD) program that seeks to enhance racial consciousness at a public research university. The goal of the study was to understand any perceived changes in faculty positionality and teaching and learning practices following their participation in the program, as well as identify the extent to which the program supported participants in a journey towards enhanced racial consciousness.

Four themes characterized the experiences of faculty participants in this CPD program: 1) experiencing the benefits of a learning community, 2) gaining confidence in …

Redefined: Understanding The Experience Of Black Joy Among Black Youth, Kaela A. Yamini

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The study of Black joy is a newer concept and, therefore, reflected in a small but growing body of literature. Many scholars have reflected on the theoretical nature of Black joy and how it can appear across settings, e.g., academically, occupationally, communally, and internally, but very few studies have examined this phenomenon empirically. Several definitions of Black joy have emerged in connection to history and suffering; however, there is still a notable lack of agreement among researchers. Despite that, all conceptualizations acknowledge how this emotional experience is much greater than the pain associated with it and highlight its ability …

“Nothing About Us Without Us”: Examining Sense Of Belonging And College Success Through The Experiences Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Courtney E. Mulligan

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Sense of belonging has become an increasingly important indicator of student engagement, persistence, and success in higher education. Despite this, limited research has explored how college students with autism experience and define belonging while at college. As increasing numbers of students with autism pursue postsecondary education, institutions face a growing need to better understand the factors that influence student experiences and outcomes. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate the experiences of sense of belonging among current college students with autism and identify the factors that contribute positively or negatively to this experience to inform more inclusive higher …

The Negotiated Identities Of Refugee-Background Women During Resettlement, Iuliia Fakhrutdinova

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Refugee-background women experience unique challenges while resettling in the U.S. as they navigate complicated transnational gender roles, education gaps, migration trauma, learning a new language, and literacy in the adaptation process during resettlement, which can derail the productive paths they are on. Therefore, ignoring refugee-background women’s unique experiences and failing to understand their identities prevents our society from doing social justice and creating a space for a smooth adaptation to the new context. Language plays a paramount role in identity formation, as it moves away from the belief that identity is an essential concept. For refugee-background women during resettlement, their …

Social Experiences Of Chinese International Students At A Us Liberal Arts College, Ke Yao

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This study provided detailed empirical evidence on social experiences of Chinese international students within a US liberal arts college context through examining their race, culture, gender, social class, and mental health experiences. This study showed that the experiences of Chinese international students in the US higher education institutions are influenced not only by individual adaptation but also by broader social and institutional contexts. First, findings of this study demonstrated that institutional features of liberal arts colleges, such as small campus environment, residential nature, and more interactive opportunities between domestic and Chinese international students, can simultaneously create opportunities for inclusion and …

A Discursive Analysis Of Lesbian And Queer Experiences Of Unwanted Consensual Sex, Sarah E. Swanson

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This study drew on a critical discursive psychology (CDP) analytical approach to examine how lesbian and queer participants made sense of unwanted consensual sex (UCS).  The data analysis traced how UCS was constructed on three discursive levels: the construction of UCS across narratives, the interpretive repertoires mobilized (including sexual scripts), and the broader sociocultural discourses that shaped what elements of their experiences were intelligible. Therefore, I sought to understand both how participants drew on familiar heteronormative and queer ways of talking about sex and how various discursive resources shaped how they could construct themselves and others. Data for this research …

Factorial Structure Of A Bilingual Progress Monitoring Tool For Mindfulness Interventions, Andrea V. Molina Palacios

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are an increasingly popular option for schools to support youth in each of the multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). MBIs have proven to increase attention, help with emotion regulation, decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression, and overall increase students’ wellbeing with a cost-effective package that makes it affordable for schools to implement. Moreover, MBIs have also proven to be effective for Hispanic youth who are at a higher risk of experiencing low access to mental health care and higher levels of poverty, which puts them at risk for dropping out and having low academic achievement. However, there …

“School’S Not For Me. I Don't Belong In School.”: Students With Dis/Abilities’ Perspectives On Special Education During State Intervention, Leila E. Parks

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study presents the lived experiences of 10 racialized teens with dis/abilities who received special education services in the Boston Public Schools during state intervention. As a youth participatory action research collective, the young people in the study’s Youth with Dis/Abilities Research Group explored issues of inclusion and exclusion, ableism, racism, and safety at school. The project was framed by dis/ability critical race studies, incorporating aspects of critical race theory and disability studies in education. Based on stories expressed through free-writes, poetry, drawings, interviews, and group conversations, the racialized teens with dis/abilities shared negative school experiences overall. Though most …

Solving For X: Centering Black Girls’ Experiences In Mathematics Education, Natasha A. Fortes

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Black girls can grow up, attend school, and move through their math classes without ever feeling seen as capable mathematical thinkers. Their teachers may not affirm their brilliance. Their voices may even go unheard. Math classes may not be a space where they can imagine themselves belonging. These experiences do not reflect ability. Instead, they reflect on the conditions in which they are expected to learn. This study centers the voices of Black girls and asks what they deserve from their mathematics education and instructors to develop a mathematics identity. The study is grounded in Black feminist traditions and draws …

The Impact Of Childhood Adversity On Students In Urban Public Elementary Schools: Recognizing, Responding, And Implementing Interventions To Support Struggling Students Through In-Depth Conversations With School Leaders, Stephen Shaw-Lyon

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

THE IMPACT OF CHILDHOOD ADVERSITY ON STUDENTS IN URBAN PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS: RECOGNIZING, RESPONDING, AND IMPLEMENTING INTERVENTIONS TO SUPPORT STRUGGLING STUDENTS THROUGH IN-DEPTH CONVERSATIONS WITH SCHOOL LEADERS

August 2026

Stephen P. Shaw-Lyon, A.A., Massasoit Community College

B.A., Arizona State University

M.Ed., Fitchburg State University

C.A.G.S., Bridgewater State University

Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Boston

Directed by Assistant Professor Bodunrin Banwo

This dissertation explores how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) affect students in urban public elementary schools in Massachusetts. While the original ACE Study reshaped understanding of adult health outcomes, less research examines how trauma influences children’s academic, behavioral, and social experiences in …

Understanding Factors Influencing Multiple Tobacco Product Use Among Adolescents In Thailand: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach, Chaowalit Srisoem

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Tobacco use among Thai adolescents is shaped by personal, environmental, and product-related factors. However, the pathways linking these influences to actual behavior remain unclear. This study examined how personal, environmental, and product-related factors, along with intentions to use, relate to tobacco use among Thai adolescents. A cross-sectional secondary analysis was conducted using data from the 2022 Thailand Global Youth Tobacco Survey of 6,235 students aged 13–15 years. Survey weights methods were applied to produce nationally representative estimates. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling assessed latent constructs, and multinomial logistic regression examined predictors of single, dual, and multiple product use. …

The Difficulty In Defining The Construct Of Perseverance, Davon W. Ferrara, Linda W. Jones

Papers

Perseverance is a character virtue necessary for flourishing in the STEM disciplines; however, there are competing definitions of perseverance in scientific literature, which makes measuring the trait and researching its impact difficult. This work provides a review of the definitions of construct found within the literature and compares it to conflated terms such as grit, persistence, resilience, and self-efficacy that have related, but distinct meanings. Finally, we summarize the role of perseverance in STEM and what factors may influence its formation.

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Belmont Formation Collaborative and the Formation Scholars Cohort for Character Research and …

The Difficulty In Defining The Construct Of Perseverance, Davon W. Ferrara, Linda Jones

Posters

Perseverance is a character virtue necessary for flourishing in the STEM disciplines; however, there are competing definitions of perseverance in scientific literature, which makes measuring the trait and researching its impact difficult. This work provides a review of the definitions of construct found within the literature and compares it to conflated terms such as grit, persistence, resilience, and self-efficacy that have related, but distinct meanings. Finally, we summarize the role of perseverance in STEM and what factors may influence its formation.

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Belmont Formation Collaborative and the Formation Scholars Cohort for Character Research and …

Writing Together, Writing Differently: Collective Authorship As Reflective Practice, Thanh Thao Le, Trut Thuy Pham

The Qualitative Report

This article examines collective authorship as a reflective and ethical research practice within a sustained program of co-authored qualitative, post-qualitative, linguistic, and reflective inquiries into teacher reflection, professional learning, language, silence, and recognition. It offers an oral-history-informed reflective methodological account of a writing collective and asks how collective authorship became a methodological practice through our collaborative writing process. The primary materials were shared drafts, margin comments, revisions, silences, version histories, short reflective notes, and remembered writing encounters. Teacher-reflection texts and related professional writing materials from our broader research program formed the secondary materials around which the writing process unfolded. Analytically, …

Leading Change In Healthcare: Building Systems, Retaining Nurses, And Creating Healthy Workplaces, Kaynabess Freda, Lisa A. Seldomridge, Crystal Devance-Wilson, Kimberly Hampton, Abigail Johnson

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Nurse retention remains a significant international challenge, especially in acute care hospitals where workplace culture, belonging, and professional growth strongly influence retention (Lal, 2024; NursingSolutions, Inc., 2024). The need for effective retention strategies is amplified by factors such as the limited supply of experienced nurses causing hiring delays, declining enrollment in nursing programs, and an aging nursing workforce (AACN, 2024; WHO, 2025).

This presentation shares results from a collaboration among the Maryland Nursing Workforce Center, Lead Nursing Forward, and the Maryland Action Coalition to assess retention strategies in acute care hospitals. Two surveys were developed using the six Nurse Staffing …

How Do Governments Combat Jihad Online?, Noah Cook

Honors College Theses

Since the September 11th, 2001 attacks, jihadist groups like ISIS, al-Qaeda, and al-Shabaab have used the internet as a tool for recruitment, radicalization, and propaganda dissemination. Since then, governments, non-governmental organizations, and private companies have developed strategies to combat jihadism on the internet. This paper examines how these actors have worked to mitigate the digital jihadist footprint and its effects by analyzing three main approaches to countering violent Islamist extremism on the internet: counter narrative initiatives, awareness-raising programs, and content removals. This paper finds that each of these methods has its own strengths and weaknesses. Counter narrative campaigns show the …

The Impact Of Inclusive Leadership And Leader Cultural Intelligence On The Work Engagement Of Migrant Employees, Dena Semonia Whittle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

With the rise of globalization and the growing demand for skilled workers, the number of foreign-born employees in the American workforce has grown significantly over the last 20 years. These numbers continue to grow, as the upward trend of foreign-born employees has been even more significant over the last 5 years. However, despite having a now more diverse workforce, there are still signs of discrimination and unequal treatment of migrants in the workplace. Such mistreatment has been linked to health-related, occupational, and psychological consequences and has been negatively associated with work engagement. The purpose of this quantitative study was to …

Psychosocial And Functional Impact Of Temporomandibular Disorder Subtypes Among Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study In Indonesia, Ni Luh Dewi, Wita Anggraini, Maria Valiente-Lopez, Carolina Marpaung

Journal of Dentistry Indonesia

Background: Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) affect psychological, functional, and pain-related aspects of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). However, the differential impact of pain-related and non-pain-related TMDs remains limited. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of different TMD subtypes on psychological distress, jaw function, and OHRQoL in young adults and to determine whether pain-related TMDs exert a greater effect than non-pain-related TMDs.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 278 university students (aged 18–24 years) were categorized into no TMD (NT), pain-related TMD (PT), intra-articular TMD (IT), and combined TMD (CT). Diagnoses were made using the 5Ts Questionnaire screening tool …